Sentimental Gear

[papajoe222]

I was just wondering if you guys hang on to gear for sentimental reasons?  If so, would you care to share?

I had a Mitchell 300 spinning reel that was around 40yrs. old when I misplaced it.  I had hung on to it because it reminded me of walleye fishing trips I'd taken with my dad and was also the reel I landed my first smallie with.  Although I don't have it anymore, whenever I see one, the memories come flodding back. 

[slonezp]

I have a couple old Silaflex rod 1950's era (pre browning) that were my grandfathers. They are in the original cloth sleeves with hand written serial numbers. Interchangeable handles for the blanks. I've got a handful of old wooden lures that were his as well. My 5500 C3 reels will be with me until the day I die.

[pbizzle]

Worm I caught my first bass on. I was 8 years old, and had just gotten my new R2F Shakespeare spincast combo. I felt like ike when I caught that fish.

[Sam]

I hang onto everything thinking one day it will be worth something or I just don't want to part with it.

 

I have no more room for rods (although I am getting a new G. Loomis Senko spinning rod next week) and my antique lure collection seems to grow out of their boxes.

 

Hope my grandkids enjoy the stuff or my wife can sell it when I croak.

[CPBassFishing]

I always keep a few bags of the bait I caught my first bass on- watermelon red 3.5" coffee tube for busting skunks.

[whitwolf]

These are some of the first baits I was given or bought back in '81. The one in the lower right hand corner is a crankbait called and Angel eye and It caught my first bass. all the baits were given to me by the two guys that got me started in bass fishing with the exception of the one In the upper left hand corner, that one Is the first balsa bait I ever bought. It was bought at a small tackle shop outside of Clarksville Arkansas in '81 for a dollar.

 

I also have some older spinning rigs that were my granddaddy's and the first baitcasing reel, a Ryobi, that I bought in '81.

 

 

[Snakehead Whisperer]

Still have my first rod (a 6' Zebco MF Fiberglass.) It feels like it weighs 10lbs. when I hold it now 
 
Caught some nice trout on that rod fishing with my Dad. 
 
I should use the rod once in a while.
 

I also have some older spinning rigs that were my granddaddy's and the first baitcasing reel, a Ryobi, that I bought in '81.

My friend has the matching rod for your Ryobi reel. It's a 7'7" MM glass rod; killer cranking rod.

[Mike L]

I have 3 Johnson Century spinn cast reels that I've had for years..

2 are the 40th anniversery models and 1 is an original 100 B  [remember those!] that my Dad gave me when I was kid.

 

It has the white thumb release button and single white reel handle, with L R reel switch.

The pearl like little button on the handle is still there.

 

I have it wrapped in a velvet bag from an old bottle of Crown Royal and kept in my sock drawer 

They're probably not worth much but I don't care.

 

 

Mike

[keith71]

My Uncle Freddy left me his old fishing tackle when he passed.Some Shakespeare Meter reels from the 40's and some old plugs from that era.He taught me alot and help plant the seed of the obsession I have today.

[Scott F]

The first lures I ever used back in the middle 60's were in-line spinners we called Abu's. I've only got one left that I had from that time but I found a new one still in the package at a flea market several years ago. I keep that around to remind me of my early fishing days.

 

[Fish_Whisperer]

I have some old spinning equipment (looks like surf casting stuff) that my papa used to catch VW bug catfish with.  He used to take me to Santee Cooper every weekend unless the signs were in the head and bring back monsters with us.  He died when I was four, and other than an obscure memory or two all I have to remember him by is a scrapbook of us with trophy cats and his spinning gear.

[mddrew88]

I'll be keeping my dad's Abu Garcia 5500 C3 and hopefully pass it down to my son whenever that may be.

 

I was too young to remember my first bass, but I'm guessing it was probably on a plastic worm or centipede.

[derekxec]

i dont hang on to anything really...once im done with it i sell it or give it away cause i dont like to have a lot of stuff im not using sitting around collecting dust lol

[deadadrift89]

Still have my Zebco 33 my grandad gave me and some of his old lures and bream poles--brings a smile everytime

[bigbill]

Besides my old rods and reels I have some of my first minnow lures, crankbaits, creme rigged worms etc. And a metal tackle box too. I even have some of the older metal live minnow buckets too. I save all my personal fishing equipment after all its my own museum of history. Why do I save all this stuff, it's hard to let go of our early days when I gave up lunches or sold my lunch to buy fishing stuff. The things we did so we could fish as kids.

I recently started collecting older fishing steel rods with the original baitcasters with then. While everyone collects the early wooded lures I go after the first molded plastic lures too. It's all the history of fishing.

[plumworm]

I have both of my grandfathers fly rods that date back to the 30s and 40s. They were the people who got me started fishing back in late 40s. I have them on a wall at my cabin along with their wicker creels, fly boxes. and fishing hats. I didn't become a bassaholic. until I was in my 50s when I couldn't wade anymore. Gave all my fly fishing gear to my kids and bought a boat. Then the bait monkey took over.

[WRB]

Nostalgia is a big part our sport remembering our youth, first reel, rod and lures we learned to fish with.

Some of us keep things that are important to us, the value being in memories.

I have my first reel, a Langley Lure Cast, do not have the rod. Have kept a tackle box full of my first lures and occasionally look at them and remember where I was and what I caught on some them. Jason Lucas recommended the reel and I have a letter he sent me where to find a part I needed after Zebco bought Langley reels in the 50's.

Tom

[Goose52]

I started fishing around 1959 and have most of my gear that I used from then through the 1960s (Fishing Era 1).  I still have almost all my reels from the 60s (2 spinning reels, 2 spincast, and 2 flyreels - missing a baitcast reel).  I'm missing a rod or two but still have 2 spinning rods and 1 fly rod from back then.  I still have a bunch of my lures from the 60s.  I still have most of my 1980s vintage gear (Fishing Era 2) - minus the salt-water rods (don't need a 13' surf rod in Tennessee... )  I still fish some of this stuff from time to time.

 

File photos that I had on hand:

 

My first spinning reel - a Ted Williams (1959), and my first spincast (about 1965) - a Lido (what the heck is a Lido you might ask...it's the reel I got my first 4-pound class bass on!)

 

 

An in-the-box Zebco 202 (~60s something) - I never fished this much and preferred the Lido (don't know where that non-original handle nut came from...............or IS it original???):

 

 

Fly reels - a Sears knock-off of a Pflueger Medalist...and a real little Plueger....along with a Shakespeare Wonderod (mid- to late-1960s):

 

 

A few lures from the 60s (the Hula Popper has a new skirt):

 

 

MirrOLures from the 60s:

 

 

Mentioned earlier in this thread - a made-in-Sweden Abu Reflex in-line spinner - I got a kit of 5 of these in the 60s (for 1 book of S&H trading stamps) and fished them over the years - lost them one by one but am saving this last one:

 

 

A Super Duper - still have a couple of these around:

 

 

 

Fishing Era 2: - I still have most of my 80s-vintage Shakespeare spinning reels and a couple 80s-vintage rods (one of the reels in the photo has since been eBayed) .  I fished the freshwater-size Shakespeare reels in the photo until recently - finally retiring the last one in January 2012 (the 040 series with line on the spool):

 

 

 

Finally - a Mitchell 408 on a Garcia Conolon rod (purchased around 1966) - both in excellent condition, still fished about once a year - this photo from this past June:

 

 

Special mention goes to this Ambassadeur 5000, now over 50 years old, that belonged to my Dad. It's on an 80s-vintage Shakespeare rod.  I still fish this every once in a while - this channel cat hit my bass plug a couple years ago.

 

 

I got other stuff too - just no file photos handy at the moment.

 

Lots of memories....

[BassinLou]

I have my Dads tackle box. No, he has not passed away, but I held on to it. He was never much into fishing, but the first time we went out he had that tackle box. Every once in while I open it up, and take a trip down memory lane.

[MarkH024]

Very cool Goose. Thanks for sharing that.

[kanasbassfisher08]

i have a booyah clacker buzzbait that i caught my first musky on and it is wrecked but still keeping it for those reasons!

[Diablos]

Nothing overly sentimental.

 

I still have my first "high end" rod/reel combo from when I was 16(38 now). A Mitchell Copperhead that cost all of $30. And I still have my first custom bass rod that I made when I was 22.

[Catt]

Abu Garcia Ambassadeur 5000 (red)

Heddon Mark Special Purpose #6271 5 1/2' MH Fiberglass with a cast aluminum reel seat & handle.

Total weight about 2# plus!

This what I started tournament fishing with, the next year I added another one.

1978 I added a Shimano Bantam 100 (siver with rose wood handle knobs) on a Fenwick.

1981 I added 2 Shimano Bantam 10XSG on Kunnan rods.

Still got em

[GeorgiaBassBros]

I have a bunch of my grandpas old rods and reels and tackle from the 40s and up to the early 2000s. Id give anything for one more fishing trip with that man. I know it gets said a lot but he truly forgot more about fishing than i could ever hope to know. I guess that tends to happen when you grow up with Orlando Wilson as your best friend. He was the one that really got me into fishing from beyond that grave. I found his gear in the barn and fell in love immediately so it really means a lot to me.

[moguy1973]

I have a Zebco 33 reel that I used as a child that was my grandpa's that I now have in my possesion again.  Probably won't ever use it again until my daughter or any future kids are old enough to fish, but it gives me good memories of fishing with my grandpa from many years ago.

 

I also have, while it's not old or anything special, my mother's St. Croix fly rod and BPS reel that I inherited when she passed away.  It's caught me many fish since I've owned it and also brings back great memories of when she used to trout fish with me.  She was quite the fisherwoman, and I have a lot of her custom tied flies that she made herself that always catch fish no matter where I'm fishing it seems...